I’ve been watching a lot of YouTube woodworking content for the past several months, mostly to improve my skills and see how others do things. As part of that, you are confronted with loads of Woodpeckers tools, and Festool. That’s fine, but there are quite a few items that these woodworking YouTubers create themselves, and over the last few months I have purchased some.
So today, I want to talk about some tools made by these folks, and see what’s actually good, or not.
Spencley Design
Eric Spencley, at Spencley Design Co., 3D prints the Last Drop Glue Dock. There are some other variants out there on the market similar in concept to this, but these handle effectively any bottle shape and size you buy wood glue in, so I’m a fan.
They come in wall-mount and benchtop options, and I snagged both. The reason you want something like this is because once a bottle of glue is about a third gone, it can take forever to get the glue flowing, so storing it upside down is the move.
I was worried these wouldn’t hold the bottles well, would tip over, or otherwise get in the way. I was completely wrong. I think the benchtop versions are the better option, at least for me. They hold glue well, and generally are just a fantastic little life improvement during glue-ups.
These get two thumbs up from me, and a 4-pack is only $44.
Bourbon Moth Woodworking & Jonathan Katz-Moses
Jason Hibbs, the man behind Bourbon Moth Woodworking, partnered with Jonathan Katz-Moses at KM Tools and knife maker Mikkel Willumsen to create the Bourbon Blade (and Bourbon Blade Mini). This is a pocket knife and chisel in one. It has a fully flat back and Sandvik 14C28N steel. It’s a hell of a tool.
Beefy, sharp as hell, and useful. I keep this in my apron at all times, and I use the shit out of it. I only have the mini, but that’s because the lefty full size is out of stock right now. It’s really good, very handy, and doesn’t cut through your apron like stashing a full chisel in it can.
The chisel tip is sharp, but so is an entire edge of the blade, so you have both a knife and a chisel. Yes, I’ve forgotten about the edge once or twice and had a little cut to show for it, but that just goes to show you how easy it is to forget that this is more than just a chisel — it’s a knife too.
This really shines as a tool that was made by someone so they could have something they felt they were missing. It’s very seamless to use: open it with one hand, close it with one hand. It’s sharp, it’s a chisel or a knife. It’s fantastic all around, and I want a pile of these for no real reason, because the truth is that my mini variant is fucking great.
The price is also stellar, with the mini retailing for $159.
Love this thing.
John Malecki
John Malecki created Shop Shades, which are safety glasses. I have been wearing Stoggles for most of my safety glasses needs, and I am quite happy with them. I probably have half a dozen pairs floating around. And I need to be honest: I only bought these because I was bored, and he was/is running a huge giveaway if you bought something.
My Stoggles aren’t perfect, so why not try these? I honestly thought they would be average at best.
The reality: somehow these are amazing. I wear safety glasses each time I start working on projects, as a force of habit, and sometimes I forget to take them off when I wrap up. These make that issue worse, because they are very comfortable. They offer good side protection as well, and I have to say, I like them a lot more than I like my Stoggles. I have nothing bad to say about these, and I might need another pair.
Izzy Swan
Izzy Swan created Swan Tool Group, which is very evidently a labor of love, and is stocked in at least two local stores here. Some of the tools they create simply have no counterpart in the market. I only have two setups from Swan Tool Group: the Merlin Flat Double Square and the Red Tail Ruler set.
We can tackle each separately.
Starting with the Merlin, this is a standard double square with an 8″ rule edge. There are a few design features that help it stand out: it lays perfectly flat on one side; the ruler is interchangeable; there’s a bevel on one edge of the ruler to get a perfect pencil line; it has a notch at the end for scribing a line; and it has a little catch that can slide out to either side when being used on the edge of something, so it stays put without needing you to hold it. Everything I just described works well. It’s large enough that it essentially works in any application you need it to, but the handle is compact enough that you can still easily carry it with you.
The knob is easy to use, but still secures faster and easier than my Benchmark square does. It feels great, looks great, but then there’s the pricing. It is $59 to buy this, which is an astounding deal for what you get. The downside is the handle size: when you use anything other than the 8″ or 6″ rulers on it, the unit can feel awkward. It’s a really good tool, and easily could be the only square you need. It’s built well, and in fact was the only square I used on quite a few projects.
Next up is the Red Tail Ruler set, which is a set of three rulers in 4″, 6″, and 12″ sizes. It’s the exact same setup as the one on the Merlin, just in different lengths. These are also interchangeable on the Merlin, meaning they fit right on that body if you want a different size. I grabbed them for that very reason, so let’s talk about that.
The 4″ is simply too small on the Merlin, and it makes it a little awkward to use. The 6″ works well, but I never found a use where the 6″ is what I need over the standard 8″. The 12″ transforms the Merlin, but the handle feels a little small for how long the blade is, so it somehow feels slightly less precise when you want to reach out that far, and feels more like a standard carpentry combination square at that point. They are nice add-ons if you only want to own one square, but the changeout is not super fast (fully unscrew, remove the screw, pop in the new ruler, and then put it back together), so it’s a set-it-up-and-leave-it-for-the-project thing, and the 8″ really is the best size for most work with the Merlin.
As standalone rulers, they work well, but surprisingly I found the 4″ to be really clutch as a ruler. It’s very easy to keep lying nearby for checking small details and scribing small lines. I used my small Benchmark 4″ double square a lot for this, but I prefer this smaller 4″ ruler over that for most things.
All in all, the Red Tail Ruler set is $39, and for that price it’s a great value, but mostly unnecessary for how I work and what my needs are. When I want a larger square, I want the body to be larger too. Not bad, just not a fit for me.
Jonathan Katz-Moses & 3×3 Custom
Katz-Moses has KM Tools, which makes some really neat stuff. I grabbed the new Slide Stop, which is designed to be a zero-deflection T-track stop for miter saw stations. This thing is stout.
It runs smooth, it stays put, and it basically does exactly what it says. I have zero other reference points for this, as I’ve never owned a miter station stop like this. It’s really cool, and was made in conjunction with 3×3 Custom — it’s killer kit. That’s all I can really say. Buy it.
The surprise for me: all of these tools are fantastic, and much better than I expected.